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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29813382">Blood Moon</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morning66/pseuds/Morning66'>Morning66</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Best Friends, M/M, Post-Sirius Black's Prank on Severus Snape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:00:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,744</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29813382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morning66/pseuds/Morning66</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"So?" Sirius asks, voice quiet and flat. "Are you going to hit me or something?"</p>
<p>Sirius and James, the aftermath of The Prank.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sirius Black/James Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Blood Moon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi!!!!!       :))</p>
<p>It's been like way too long since I wrote these two because schools been killing me. Lol</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Warnings: swearing, brief implied mention of child abuse</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time James is released from Dumbledore's office, it's nearly two and his lips have long since puckered from lemon drops.</p>
<p>He licks them, standing alone in the corridor by the gargoyle. James hates lemon, hates anything too sour really, but he needed something to do with his lips so he accepted every one like a drowning man water. It's Sirius who loves lemon, even loves those super sour trick candies from Zonko's so much that they buy them for his birthday and it's not even a joke.</p>
<p>Sirius.</p>
<p>James shudders a little and then sets off, feeling vulnerable without his invisibility cloak. He's got a piece of parchment with Dumbledore's elegant scrawl, permission to be out this late, but his instincts won't hear of it.</p>
<p>The halls are dark and silent. He's been out a million times before, but never alone. Always with his friends. The castle never seems so quiet and forlorn when Sirius is pressed close to him under the cloak, the two of them hushing each other's laughter because Slughorn's coming around the corner.</p>
<p>Passing under a window, the floor is suddenly lit with the moonlight, vibrant and luminous.</p>
<p>And horrific, James thinks.</p>
<p>He thinks of Remus alone in the shack, clawing his arms and legs raw right now, leaving alternating strips of flesh and bloody tissue. Poor Remus, who doesn't even know yet he's the subject of the worst prank ever, the victim of Sirius Black at his cruellest.</p>
<p>The fat lady's nodding off when James gets there and she startles awake when he whispers the password, yawning as the door opens. The common room is empty, the fire long gone out. He half expects Sirius to be waiting for him, but he's not.</p>
<p>James sighs, shakes his head to the side and heads up the steps.<br/> <br/>The dormitory is dark and quiet, save Peter's snoring. Peter, the lucky one who hadn't even been there, held over by Slughorn to finish some potion.</p>
<p>Makes sense, really. Old Pete's always had the most self-preservation of the lot of them, always known when to stop and not get in trouble, even if it is subconcious. Result of growing up with his mum and step-dad always at each others throats, pots and pans and knives always being thrown, probably. </p>
<p>James supposes it's a knack he never needed to learn, not as a kid at least.</p>
<p>Remus's bed is empty, the curtains left thrown open, a paperback spread across the pillow upside down, a jumper folded at the end. James gives it a once-over, feeling a pool of guilt building in his gut. He didn't even do anything this time and he feels guilty.</p>
<p>Sirius's curtains are shut, drawn tight. James wonders if he's there, or if he's off doing some reckless, self-destructive act somewhere. He tells himself he doesn't care, not after tonight.</p>
<p>(It's a lie. He always, always cares.)</p>
<p>James kicks his shoes off quietly, not wanting to wake Peter. He strips off his pants and jumper, slips on pajama pants and an old jersey. His mouth is still puckered, lemony, but tonight's not a teeth brushing night.</p>
<p>When James opens his curtains, he finds out where Sirius is. He's sitting cross-legged on his bed, motionless in the cold moonlight.</p>
<p>"So?" Sirius asks, voice quiet and flat. "Are you going to hit me or something?"</p>
<p>He's playing it off normal, playing it off like he couldn't care less what James does, but James knows him better than just about anyone else. He knows when he's nervous, knows when he's afraid and covering it with scraps of confidence until he builds a thick layer, an insulator.</p>
<p>It's something in the set of his body, the way his hands are clasped tightly around his knees. In the way his eyes glance around, shifty, looking not at James, but through him.</p>
<p>James takes a seat on his bed, Sirius retreating farther away so that they don't touch. In the moonlight, Sirius looks almost like a vampire, pale, porcelain skin stretched over well defined cheekbones, hair so black it's almost blue. His lips are so red it takes James a moment to notice the blood, beading in a thin line where Sirius's teeth must have dug in.</p>
<p>It's funny, James thinks, funny because for all the fuss they make over Black blood, Sirius's could very well be his own. It's no darker, no thicker. The same bright red James, or Remus, or, hell, Evans get when they scrape their knees or scratch their arms.</p>
<p>"James?" Sirius asks, and there's a smallness to his voice that it should never be allowed to have.</p>
<p>James breathes out a sigh, takes Sirius in. He's wearing an old pair of James's pajama bottoms, James notices. He always is because all his own are monogrammed silk and give him red rashes down his arms and legs, a fact he insists his parents are well-aware of.</p>
<p>James reaches out and Sirius tenses, comes close to flinching, waiting for a punch, probably. In the end, it's that which seals the deal. James can't hit him, not like this at least, not when they've all spent years attempting to convince him that punishment shouldn't involve scars, or bruises, or painful spells.</p>
<p>Instead of punching him, he grasps Sirius's shoulder and drags him towards him. Sirius lets out a noise that's somewhere between a gasp and a grunt, but doesn't object. They meet together, Sirius burrowing his face in James's neck as if he's the one who needs comfort, as if he didn't cause the entire shitshow that was the last five hours.</p>
<p>When they were younger, eleven and twelve, they used to spend half the night talking, planning pranks too grand even for them. Eventually, they'd drift off, limbs tangled, the narrow bed room enough for their skinny bodies. Now, though, they're all planes and half grown hardness, a world away from the children they were.</p>
<p>It's awkward now. Or, more apt, it should be awkward and it's not, which makes the situation awkward in an entirely different way.</p>
<p>"Pads," James breathes and he means to say more, but falls short.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Sirius says against his neck. "Yeah, I know."</p>
<p>There's a part of James that wants to ask him what he knows. Wants to ask what question Sirius is answering, what question he himself even asked because he doesn't have a clue.</p>
<p>They sit like that for a while, their breaths lining up in the quiet room. In sync, like always. Finally, Sirius pulls back and stares at James with an unreadable expression. Unreadable, but James can see light building in the corners of his eyes.</p>
<p>There's still a little blood on Sirius's bottom lip and a part of James wants to lean forward and ---. Get it off. Somehow. With hands or lips or something and Merlin, what the fuck's he thinking?</p>
<p>What would Remus think? Good, sweet Remus who helps them with History of Magic and gets them out of trouble when he can. Remus, who's better than the lot of them, but weaker so it ends up not mattering. Remus, who nearly became a weapon tonight.</p>
<p>"That bastard deserved it," Sirius says definantly, breaking James out of his thoughts. "You know he did."</p>
<p>James doesn't readily have an opinion on whether Snape deserved it or not. He's not like  Sirius with his burning hatred of Slytherins, born or made. For him, it's a game, something fun. Tonight, though, tonight wasn't fun.</p>
<p>"But Remus didn't," James says, because this he knows. "He didn't deserve to be a bloody murder weapon, mate."</p>
<p>Sirius sucks in air and it sounds a little too much like the hiss of a snake for comfort. "Yeah," he agrees. "I know. Just didn't think."</p>
<p>He says the last part wearily, as if he doesn't know if it's going to get James to go off on him.</p>
<p>A part of James wants to go off on him, shake him until he gets even a lick of sense, until some of his carelessness, his reckless, dangerous indifference rubs off.</p>
<p>Instead, he manages a lopsided grin. "D'you ever think?"</p>
<p>Sirius shrugs, but his lips turn upward. "Excuse me--"</p>
<p>"Remus is the smart one," James interjects, veering the conversation into familiar territory.</p>
<p>"Remus is the bookish one," Sirius says, and then his face darkens. "Suppose he'll be mad at me?"</p>
<p>"Probably, mate." Remus, while for the most part hard to anger, can hold a grudge better than any of them. "You'll have to apologize."</p>
<p>He half expects Sirius to protest because Sirius Black doesn't apologize to anyone, but Sirius just nods and twists his neck to the side.</p>
<p>"You're not mad at me, are you?" Sirius asks, tilting his eyes down and blinking lashes longer than any bloke should have. He sounds a bit like a child. He sounds, for once, worried.</p>
<p>It doesn't elude James that he's the one who can worry Sirius. Not nearly murdering someone, not nearly turning their friend into a human version of the killing curse. It burrows into his brain, nestles somewhere it definitely shouldn't be.</p>
<p>James wishes he were mad at Sirius. Wishes he could stay mad at him, because he should be, he knows that much. He tried to hold onto it earlier, but by now it's all dissipated like smoke.</p>
<p>He shakes his head and feels a rush of warmth run through him when Sirius's face splits into a grin. His mouth curls up, most likely in a dopey grin of his own.</p>
<p>A yawn breaks Sirius's grin and his eyes flutter. "'S late."</p>
<p>He shifts, starts to get off the bed, but James reaches out and rests a hand on his arm.</p>
<p>"You can...I mean..." e fumbles, not able to get it out.</p>
<p>Sirius gives him a sharp look that fades to softness. "Yeah," he breathes, sinking back down and pulling back the blankets for them. "Yeah."</p>
<p>They've been doing this a lot now. More than normal. More than they probably should. It's different than when they were kids, more purposeful, more meaningful even if James doesn't want to think about what it means.</p>
<p>As they lay together, James reaches out and curls an arm around Sirius's side, breathes deeply as the other boy presses into him. There's a part of him that wishes he could freeze this moment, never have to face the morning, face Remus, but the moonlight bleeding through the curtains doesn't allow him to forget.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I don't think this is a healthy relationship.      :/</p>
<p>Have a nice day!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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